长柄鼠李 chang bing shu li

Frangula longipes (Merrill & Chun) Grubov.

Shrubs or small trees, erect, to 8 m tall. Young branches and branchlets purple-brown, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Stipules linear-lanceolate, 4-5 mm, caducous; petiole 1.2-2.2 cm, hairy, glabrescent; leaf blade shiny, yellow-green when dry, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 6-11 × 2-4 cm, subleathery, both surfaces glabrous, rarely sparsely hirsute on veins, midvein stout, prominent abaxially, impressed adaxially, lateral veins 7-10 pairs, base cuneate or subrounded, margin revolute, remotely obtusely crenulate, apex acuminate. Flowers 2 to few, crowded on 1.5-4 cm peduncles in axillary cymes, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Pedicels 3-4 mm, puberulent. Sepals triangular, ca. equal to calyx tube, apex slightly acute. Petals obcordate, ca. 1.5 mm, apex rounded. Stamens longer than petals. Ovary globose, 2- or 3-loculed; style ca. 1.2 mm, 2- or 3-semilobed. Drupe red-purple or black at maturity, globose or obovoid-globose, 6-8 mm in diam., with 2 or 3 one-seeded stones; fruiting pedicel 6-8 mm, sparsely pubescent. Seeds 2(or 3), ca. 4 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Nov.

● Dense mountain forests; 500-1700 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, SE Yunnan.

This species differs from Rhamnus crenata in having subleathery leaves, longer petioles, 1.5-4 cm peduncles, and a larger drupe.

The seeds are used for making soap.